Sealable envelope for packing slip or the like



Aug. 25, 1970 RQ J. CARRIGAN SEALABLE ENVEIJO'PE FOR PACKING SLIP OR THE? LIKE Filed April 28, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

nlllrlllrlillhlllnl Car/[gan Aug. 25, 1970 R. J. CARRIGAN SEALABLE ENVELOPE FOR PACKING SLIP OR THE LIKE Filed April 28, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 NVETOR. ROBERT J. cARRlGAN u fl JM' ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,525,470 SEALABLE ENVELOPE FOR PACKING SLIP R THE LIKE Robert I. Carrigan, Thompsonville, Conn., assignor to United States Envelope Company, Springfield, Mass., a corporation of Maine Continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 689,370, Dec. 11, 1967. This application Apr. 28, 1969, Ser. No. 825,107

Int. Cl. B6Sd 27/00 U.S. Cl. 229-74 1 Claim ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE A sealable envelope for receiving a packing slip or the like and adapted for attachment to a packing box or other receiving surface has rectangular rear and front panels made from a exible plastic material bonded together to form a pocket therebetween. The front panel is longer than the rear panel and includes a seal flap which extends beyond the edge of the rear panel defining the pocket mouth. The outer surface of the rear panel is coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive covered 'by a piece of release material 'which is removable therefrom to expose the adhesive for adhering the rear panel to the receiving surface. The seal flap is also coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive covered by a piece of release material which is removable therefrom to expose the adhesive for adhering the flap to the receiving surface. The adhesive on the liap extends inwardly toward the envelope pocket beyond the adjacent mouth defining edge of the rear Ipanel and serves when the envelope is attached to a receiving surface to directly seal the front panel to the rear panel to close the pocket mouth.

RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 689,370, filed Dec. 1l, 1967, now abandoned and entitled Sealable Envelope for Packing Slip or the Like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates in general to envelopes and deals more particularly with a sealable'and self-attaching envelope particularly adapted for attachment to boxes, cartons, and other containers and for receiving packing lists, invoices, and the like.

The general aim of the present invention is to provide an improved moisture impervious envelope of the aforedescribed general type particularly adapted to contain an item such as a packing slip, invoice or the like so that the item may be sealed in the envelope and readily attached to a packing box or other receiving surface.

A further aim of this invention is to provide an envelope of the aforedescribed type suited to economical, automatic machine production.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an envelope of the aforedescribed type which `after attachment to a receiving surface may be readily opened for removal of its contents.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention resides in an envelope formed by two panels of thin fiexible material heat sealed or other- Iwise bonded to one another to form a pocket therebetween with the front panel including a ap extending beyond the edge of the rear panel defining the envelope pocket. A coating of pressure sensitive material on the rear surface of the rear panel and the rear surface of the fiap serve to adhere the rear panel and the flap to the receiving surface. The adhesive on the fiap also extends inwardly 3,525,470 Patented Aug. 25, 1970 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an envelope embodying the present invention, the envelope being shown containing an item in its pocket and attached to a surface of a packing box.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the panels from which the envelope of FIG. 1 is formed.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the envelope of FIG. 1 before attachment to the packing box, portions of the rear panel, adhesive coating and release material being shown broken away to reveal other details of the envelope construction.

FIG. `4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4 4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a sectional View taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6` is a perspective view of an envelope comprising an alternative embodiment of this invention, the envelope being shown containing an item and attached to a surface of a packing box.

FIG. 7 is a exploded perspective view of the panels from which the envelope of FIG. 6` is formed.

FIG. 8 is a rear view of the envelope of FIG. 6 before attachment to the packing box, portions of the rear panel, adhesive coating and release material being shown broken away to reveal other details of the envelope construction.

FIG. 9 is a sectional View taken along the line 9-9 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along the line 10-101 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary side vie'w taken along the line 11-11 of FIG. 6.

In FIGS. 4, 5, 9, l() and l1, the relative thicknesses of the various layers of material have been exaggerated for clarity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings, and first considering FIGS. 1 to 5, these figures show a scalable and selfattaching envelope embodying the present invention and indicated generally at 10. In FIG. l, the envelope 10 is shown to contain an item 12, which may, for example, be a packing slip, and is shown in a sealed condition attached to an end surface of a packing box or carton 14.

The envelope may take various different forms and shapes and may be made from any suitable stock, but preferably, as shown, it is basically made from two panels of thin flexible, transparent thermoplastic sheet material, such as polyethylene, which is impervious to moisture. These two panels are referred to as front and rear panels, respectively indicated at 16 and 18, and are of a rectangular shape, the rear panel 18 being the one which in use is designed to lie adjacent the receiving surface and the front panel 16 being the one which in use is exposed to the viewer. The two panels 16 and 18 are connected to one another along their respectively associated peripheral edges, as indicated by the seal line 20, to form a pocket therebetween. As will be best apparent from FIGS. 2 to 5, the front panel 16 is longer than the rear panel 18 and includes a fiap portion 21 which extends beyond the edge 23 of the rear panel 18 which defines the mouth of the envelope pocket.

Attached to the flap portion 21 of the front panel 16 is a strip 30 of flexible thermoplastic material, such as polyethylene, similar to that from which the front panel 16 is made. The strip 30 on its rear surface includes a coating of pressure sensitive adhesive 32 and a layer of release material 34 which entirely covers the adhesive coating. The strip 30 and its associated adhesive and release materials layers 32 and 34 extend inwardly toward the pocket of the envelope, or downwardly in the drawings, beyond the adjacent mouth defining edge 23 of the rear panel. The adhesive coating 32 therefore overlaps the upper end portion of the rear panel 18 and when the release material 34 is removed may be used to seal the front panel to the rear panel to close the mouth of the envelope pocket, it being understood that the release material 34 is readily removable so that it may be stripped from the adhesive coating 34 to expose the adhesive for use.

The rear panel 18 also includes a layer 33 of adhesive covering the entire extent of its rear surface and which is, in turn, entirely covered by a layer of release material 36 which may readily be stripped therefrom to expose the adhesive for use. It should, of course, be understood that in some instances it may not be necessary to completely cover the flap portion 21 of the front panel or the rear surface of the rear panel with adhesive and, if desired, in some instances adhesive may be omitted from selected portions of such surfaces without departing from the invention. Also, one or more slits may be made in the release material if desired in order to facilitate the stripping of such material from the adhesive.

FIG. 4 shows the envelope 10 prior to its attachment to a receiving surface and with the release material layers 36 and 34 in place. FIG. 5, on the other hand, shows the envelope with the release material layers removed and with the envelope adhered to the receiving surface of the box 14 by means of the adhesive coatings 32 and 33. From inspection of FIG. 5, it will be noted that the adhesive layer 32 serves to adhere the major portion of the envelope to the receiving surface and the adhesive layer 32 serves to adhere the ap portion 21 of the envelope to the same receiving surface. At the same time, the portion of the adhesive coating 32 which overlaps the upper end portion of the rear panel also serves to adhere the front panel 16 to the rear panel 18 and to thereby seal the mouth of the envelope to fully protect the packing slip or other item 12 contained therein.

The strip 30 which is attached to the ap 21 of the front panel may be attached thereto by various means but preferably it is attached by heat sealing along the outer registered peripheral edges of the strip 30 and the ap 21 as indicated by the seal line 25 in FIG. l. Preferably, the front panel 16 is, in the manufacture of the envelope, cut from a web of polyethylene or similar material and the rear panel 18 and strip 30 are each cut from a web or webs of polyethylene to which the adhesive layer and release material layer have already been applied. The strip 30 is then laid in place over the front panel, the rear panel next laid in place over the front panel and part of the strip 30, and then all parts are bonded together by heat sealing along the four peripheral edges of the front panel, this method of manufacture lending itself well to high speed production on web-fed envelope making machines.

Normally, the envelope is used by rst inserting a packing slip or other item, such as that indicated at 12, into its pocket and then removing the release material layers 34 and 36 and adhering both the rear panel and the ap to the receiving surface, thereby attaching the envelope to the receiving surface and sealing the item 12 therein. If desired, however, the envelope may also be attached to a receiving surface without sealing the flap to the surface, thereby maintaining the envelope pocket in an opened condition for later sealing. When the envelope is attached in this manner, the release material layer 36 is stripped from the rear panel without removing the release material 34 from the flap 21, and the rear panel is then attached to the receiving surface by means of its adhesive layer 33. After this attachment, the envelope pocket remains unsealed due to the presence of the release material 34 on the seal flap. Thereafter, at any time, the release material 34 may be removed from the flap 21 to seal the ap to the receiving surface and to close the envelope mouth.

FIGS. `6 to 11 show an envelope, indicated generally at 40, which is generally similar to that of the envelope 10 except for including a different construction of the seal ap portion of the front panel. In referring to these iigures, the envelope 40 includes a front panel 42 and a rear panel 44 made of polyethylene or similar thin, flexible thermoplastic material, the two panels 4Z and 44 being rectangular with the front panel 42 being longer than the rear panel 44 so as to include a seal ap 46 which extends beyond the adjacent or upper edge 48 of the rear panel which denes the mouth of the envelope. The two panels are joined to one another by heat sealing along their three registered peripheral edges as indicated by the seal line 50 of FIG. l. For a purpose hereinafter described, it should be noted that along the two side edges 54, S4 of the envelope the seal line 50 terminates, as indicated at 52, 52 in FIG. 6, a slight distance from the mouth defining edge 48 of the rear panel so that in the area directly adjacent the pocket mouth the front panel is not directly sealed to the rear panel. Also, it should be noted that the front panel 42 includes a weakened line 56 formed by perforations or the like located between the adjacent edge 48 of the rear panel and the end points 52, 52 of the heat seal.

As shown best in FIGS. 7, 8, and 9 the rear panel 44 includes a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive 58 which is entirely covered by a layer of release material 60, the layer 60 preferably including a slit, such as shown at 62, for facilitating its removal from the adhesive.

The seal flap 46 of the front panel 42 also includes a layer of adhesive for adhering the ap to the receiving surface and for sealing the front panel to the rear panel to close the envelope mouth. In this case, the adhesive, indicated at 64, is applied directly to the flap 46 in the form of a line of such adhesive extending thereacross. This line of adhesive 64 is so located on the flap 46 that it extends in the direction toward the envelope pocket, or -downwardly in the figures, beyond the adjacent edge 48 of the rear panel so as to slightly overlap the upper end portion of the rear panel and be capable of directly Sealing the front panel to the rear panel to close the envelope mouth. A strip of release material 66 completely covers the strip of adhesive 64 on the seal ap and may be readily removed to expose such adhesive.

In the use of the envelope 40, the release material layers 60 and 66 are normally removed, after a packing slip or other item such as that shown at 12 has been placed therein, and the envelope pressed to the receiving surface so that the adhesive 58 of the rear panel and the adhesive 64 of the seal ap will adhere the rear panel and the seal flap to the receiving surface. The portion of the ap adhesive 64 which overlaps the upper edge portion of the rear panel also seals the flap to the rear panel to close the mouth of the envelope thereby protecting the envelope contents. As mentioned previously, however, the heat seal line 50 along which the rear panel is joined to the front panel terminates short of the mouth defining edge 48 of the rear panel, and after the envelope has been sealed and adhered to a receiving surface, as shown in FIGS. 6, 10 and 1l, a pencil or other sharp pointed tool may be inserted between the rear panel and the front panel along either side edge 54, 54 of the envelope in the unsealed area 68 between the end 52 of the heat seal and the edge 48. After the tool is so inserted, it may be moved across the envelope to tear the front panel along the weakened line 56, thereby quickly and easily opening the envelope for removal of its contents 12. It should be understood, however, that this easy opening feature is not necessary to the broader aspects of the invention and, if desired,

the envelope may be constructed so as to eliminate the weakened line 56 and to move the end points 52, 52 of the heat seal closer to the edge 48, there-by virtually eliminating any gap in the side edges of the envelope.

In the use of the envelope 40, it may also be attached to a receiving surface without initially adhering the seal flap to such receiving surface as explained in connection with the envelope of FIGS. 1 to 5.-That is, the envelope may initially be adhered to the receiving surface solely through the use of the adhesive 58 on the rear panel without removing the release material 66 from the adhesive on the seal flap, the release material 66 thereafter being removed at a later time for sealing the flap to the receiving surface.

In the manufacture of the envelope 40, the front panel 42 is preferably cut from a web of polyethylene or similar material, and the line of adhesive 64 and line S6 0f perforations are added before the cutting of the panel from the web. Similarly, the release paper strip 66 is also preferably added prior to the cutting of the panel from the web. This allows the adhesive, the line of per- -forations and the release paper to be applied as a continuous process. The rear panel may also be cut from a web of polyethylene or similar material to which the adhesive and release material layers have previously been applied. The front and rear panels are then placed on top of one another and heat sealed together to form the finished envelope, this process lending itself well to high speed economical production on web-fed envelope making machines.

I claim:

1. A sealable envelope for a packing slip or the like, said envelope comprising front and rear panels of thin, flexible material connected to one another to form a pocket therebetween, said rear panel having an edge deining a mouth for said pocket and said front panel including a ap extending beyond said mouth defining edge of said rear panel, a laye-r of pressure sensitive adhesive on the rear surface of said rear panel, a layer of release material adhered to and completely covering said adhesive layer of said rear panel, a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive on the rear side of said flap, a layer of release material adhered to and completely covering said adhesive layer of said flap, said adhesive on said flap extending iuwardly toward said pocket beyond said mouth defining edge of said rear panel so as to overlap a portion of said rear panel and be capable of adhering said front panel to said rear panel when its associated layer of release material is removed, said front and rear panels being yconnected to one another along a seal line which at at least one of the opposite ends of said mouth deining edge of said rear panel terminates short of said edge so as to provide an area adjacent said mouth dening edge along which said front and rear panels are unjoined to one another so as to permit the insertion of a tool therebetween for opening said envelope after it is adhered to a receiving surface, and a weakened line extending across said front panel and communicating with said area at which said front and rear panels are unjoined.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,339,826 9/1967 Beskind 229-74 X DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Primary Examiner Us. c1. Xn. 229-68, 7i 

